Oh, Activision Blizzard. I’d say I hardly knew you before the news of your imminent demise, but that’d be a lie!

The EEOC and Activision’s settlement has been confirmed for approval on March 29th, claiming $18 million is a “fair, reasonable and adequate” compensation fund, according to court documents released by Stephen Totilo.

Considering former CEO Bobby Kotick (God, that’s so satisfying to say!) alone had a salary of over £56,000 an hour, I hope it’s not the most controversial thing in the world to suggest that the Judge is being a teeny-tiny bit too lenient, to put it mildly!

Other terms of the settlement include:

• A pledge to improve training tools, workplace policies and practices.
• Hire an internal equal opportunity coordinator (took em long enough).
• Bringing in a ‘neutral third-party’ consultant approved by the EEOC.

The DFEH then rocked up and pulled a Phoenix Wright “OBJECTION“, saying the agreement would harm it’s own case against Activision Blizzard due to concerns of it being used to release Activision from further claims under the law in California. Judge Fischer ruled against the DFEH, despite it’s support from The Communications Workers of America union agreeing that $18 million is a “woefully inadequate” sum.

The settlement has also been criticized for not including restrictions to document-shredding (something Activision has received flak for in the past).

While that would be ideal, the company has been systematically and morally bankrupt since day one, I doubt they’d let this pesky little thing called The Law stop them from trying it if they wanted to!

The court will let the DFEH make it’s final arguments on the 29th before confirming it’s ruling.

 “The parties have not specifically responded to the DFEH’s objections, though the court notes that many of the statements in the objections are simply inaccurate, based on speculation, or otherwise address issues that the DFEH should not be concerned with.” – Judge Fischer.

Product Poems:

Galactic Destruction King, Benevolent World-Eater… Kirby.

“Annie, get your gun, gal“! Her mech appeared. “Shooty bang-bang, y’all”!

There was once a pink ball-boy called Kirby, who looked like a featherless furby. I jest of course, but there is some discourse on Forgotten Lands, almost found, surely!

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The post Approval of Activision Blizzard Settlement? What To Know first appeared on Get2Gaming.

ORDER IN THE COURT! Here comes the judge… It wouldn’t kill you to crack a smile, you know.

Apple will now be changing it’s iOS policies to allow developers to link to other stores! Shame it’s coming on the back of a mini feud between it, Epic Games, Netflix (details on that covered here) and a bunch of other mega companies instead of taking independent developers into account, but I see this as an absolute win!

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has denied Apple’s request for a stay of the injunction ordering it to let app developers link to non-Apple payment options. This is in large part due to Apple’s violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, so Apple has until December 9th to comply. Apple’s stay could have taken anywhere from a three to five year delay according to Judge Rogers.

“Apple Inc. […] are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from (i) including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app”

Apple attorney Mark Perry claimed it could take months to iron out “economic, business, and other issues” regarding the request to stay on the order, then went on to say the following: “It is exceedingly complicated. There have to be guardrails and guidelines to protect children, to protect developers, to protect consumers, to protect Apple”… To put all that into lay terms: Mark Perry simultaneously played the “it would be bad for business” card AND the “think of the children“ card because letting salesmen advertise where they sell more of their own product on a store owned by a multi-BILLION dollar company would make a minuscule dent in the profit motive… I think Austin Powers summed it up best-

On a similar note, searching Apple in the Go2Games store makes a Banjo-Kazooie themed controller stand show up, so for what that’s worth, have a butcher’s if you’re looking to add some retro panache to your gamer pad!

In other Apple related news:

• PlayStation 5 is the first console to allow for Apple Music.
• A Castlevania title coming exclusively to the Apple Arcade store.
• Apple Arcade surpassing 200 games and counting.
• Tetris Beat coming to Apple Arcade.

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The post Apple Request in Epic Games Trial Denied first appeared on Get2Gaming.